Employees belongings searches.

malfunkshun said:
I take it that you mean it took place at the end of your working day, before you left and were present for the search?
If you refuse to consent then they cannot search, however you should fully expect a disciplinary for the refusal. As has been said, if they think that they have grounds then they can contact the Police.
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Yeah that was right at the end of the day. It was a cosmetics company with high price items easy to conceal.

Two elderly ladies were caught once and dismissed after being found to be carry hundreds of pounds of stock in their bags. They didn't need consent as they knew they were caught and put their hands up to it.

The company was expecting the temps and youngsters to be behind the loses.
 
Pestilence said:
Eh? That's like saying the only people who smell of cigarette smoke are smokers who don't shower in the morning. Nonsense.
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I don't think you understand what I am saying. I was replying to the guy above "after smoking it for ages" normal people look after themselves... his statement indicated that people that smoke marijuana don't shower at all and therefore stink.
 
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As already mentioned, take advice from a legal professional.

but it sounds to me like she has obtained her 'evidence' illegally?

Whatever it was she thinks this bag contains is now irrelevant as I would imagine it could not be proven that that she did or did not put it there herself (unless the guy who was sacked admitted to it, which I hope he has not).

True, all companies will take disciplinary action over drugs and alcohol, but managers have to stay on the correct side of the line themselves, otherwise they may well find themselves sacked.

This manager by her actions:

Cannot prove she did not plant the material in his belongings.
Cannot prove what the material is without having it tested in a lab.
Cannot prove that he was under the influence of drugs/alcohol at the time of the search unless they have the means to test him on the spot.
Cannot justify searching his belongings in the first place if there is no search policy present withing the company rules, let alone searching them in the manner she has done.

If this guy stood his ground I think the manager could be in a lot of trouble. If it is a family run business, and she is a member of the family, she probably wont get the sack because they will pull rank, however if she does not get sacked then it sets a precedence to all other employees and the company may find it hard to sack anyone ever again without being hauled into a tribunal of some sort.
 
Have to say, if this ever happened to me, I'd be kicking up a fuss with the company and wanting to know where my laptop/iPad/mobile/etc. had disappeared to... ;)
 
Rroff said:
My contract forbids an employee to bring alcohol onto the premises without first informing a manager and consumption on the premises is completely forbidden.
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this is a restaurant though there's always going to be alcohol on the premises.
 
asim18 said:
It's not as simple as that. Legality doesn't always dictate right/wrong because some things are outlawed for economic reasons or to satisfy governmental greed (cannabis included). Therefore judging someone for having a bit of weed is utter hypocrisy if you know you're going to be chilling out with a glass of alcohol later. Doesn't matter how bad the government tells you it is, it's only bad for them because it's untaxable cash flow - which is why you shouldn't base your reasoning on what the government does or doesn't allow you to do.
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and drugs are treated differently to alcohol because if i think you're drunk i can make you do a breathalyser, to clear up safety concerns however if i think you're high all i an do is check if you've taken something within x days. So purely because you cant be certain it has to be banned in workplaces where there are risks


If someone devised a way to get a 2 litres of high grade vodka per sq foot per month using nothing but light and water it would be outlawed within 42 minutes.
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yeah you need sugar and yeast much harder....
 
asim18 said:
And that justifies sacking, how?

If you find something illegal and you want it dealt with you notify relevant authorities who would have tried recouping a minuscule amount of the lost tax by asking him to pay a £90 fine.

Now all you have is a jobless man, and the government didn't have the chance to take £90 off him too.
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well i don't know about a restaurant but i know at my place if the employee wasn't sacked we'd be shut down and that would be 6,000 people out of work so......
 
Small update he spoke to CAB and they believe he has a case. He's got to wait for a call back now.

I assume CAB would direct to him to an appropriate lawyer?
 
i honestly feel that if he rings ACAS he wont even come close to needing a lawyer or any other paid for legal action. their phone service is great
 
I'd be looking to eviscerate the boss.

Illegally searching through my stuff? Say goodbye to your job you dim witted ****athor.

Straight on to the union or if I wasn't in a union, seeking legal advice straight away. That enrages me more than I can even say - you have zero right to ever go through your employees belongings without their permission and a witness present the same as you have zero right to walk into a strangers home and start looking through their belongings.
 
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